WATERVILLE VALLEY, N.H. - Sophomore Chris Cantara (Pelham, N.H.) scored two first period goals and Plymouth State University withstood several comebacks by Assumption College Saturday night, defeating the Ice Dogs 5-3 in an ECAC Northeast Conference men's ice hockey game at Waterville Valley Arena.

         The Panthers won their second straight contest and got back to the .500 mark in conference play at 3-3-1 (6-8-2 overall), while Assumption suffered its eighth straight setback and fell to 2-9-0 in the ECAC Northeast (5-12-0 overall).

         After Cantara's two goals, the second with the man advantage, gave the Panthers a 2-0 lead after one frame, senior Sean Staid (Peabody, Mass.) cut the margin in half for Assumption with a power play goal four minutes into the second period.  Freshman defenseman Bryan Horrigan (Brookfield, Wis.) gave PSU its two-goal lead back with a power play marker at the 12:06 mark, but senior John Routhier (Saugus, Mass.) pulled the Ice Dogs back to within a goal with another power play goal with 5:35 to play in the middle stanza.

         Senior Deni Bojadzic (Gothenburg, Sweden) gave the Panthers its third two-goal lead at 3:27 of the third period, but Assumption did not quit.  Junior Frank Bova (Princeton, Mass.) scored at 11:16 to make it a 4-3 PSU lead, and the Ice Dogs pulled their goalie in the final minute and a half, but PSU senior Chris Cadieux (Nashua, N.H.) tallied an empty-net goal in the final minute to seal the win for the home team.

         PSU finished with a 40-19 advantage in shots on goal.  Freshman Kevin Crosby (Farmington, Conn.) earned the win for the Panthers, making 16 saves, while junior Casey McNally (Lunenberg, Mass.) stopped 35 shots in the Assumption goal.

         Plymouth State continues its four-game homestand on Wednesday with a 6:00 p.m. conference game vs. Framingham State. Assumption starts a four-game homestand Wednesday against Becker (7:40 p.m.)

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